Metaphor and Literalism in Buddhism: The ... - misterdanger.net

THE DOCTRINAL DEVELOPMENT OF NIRVANA
who is ‘pierced by an arrow thickly smeared with poison’. 45 He is treated by
a surgeon who opens the wound with the knife and drains the poison off
from his wound. Although it looks as if there is no poison remaining, there
is a possibility that some is left. Thus, the surgeon instructs him to take care
of the wound by eating only beneficial foods, taking a regular bath, and not
exposing the wound to the wind. If he follows this instruction he will be
cured and if not he will die. The word upAdisesa is used here to describe
whether any poison is still remaining in him or not: ‘He might extract the
arrow, he might drain off the poison leaving some behind but thinking none
remained . . . the poison has been drained off so that none is left, there is no
danger for me.’ 46 Ñyaoamoti, however, could not clearly explain how this
medical term, ‘the residue of a poisoned arrow’s poison still clinging’, becomes
used to mean ‘the five aggregates’.
If we take upAdi in upAdisesa to mean ‘fuel’, the objective meaning of
upAdAna, we can easily understand what upAdisesa means in the context of
nirvana. What is called nirvana with a remainder of clinging is, as mentioned
before, the state where the above triple fire is extinguished yet the fuel, the
aggregates, is still remaining; whereas nirvana without a remainder of clinging
is the state where there is no more fuel, the aggregates, left. Since there
are no more rebirths in this state, it can also be regarded as going out or
extinction. 47
This later state is the starting point of the ontological questions about
nirvana: we can ask ‘Where does the candle’s flame go after going out?’ and
the answer may be ‘It goes back to its origin’, ‘It goes to nothing’ or ‘That
cannot be answered’. I discuss this question later in detail in Chapter 4,
under ‘The Theravada exegetical position on nirvana’ and Chapter 5, under
‘The Sautrantika’s criticism of ontological issues surrounding nirvana’.
What is the textual evidence to support this explanation? A small passage
in both the Itivuttaka in the Pali and the Chinese translation by Xuan-zang 48
is the best known example to support this Theravada exegetical tradition
on the two nirvana theory: both nirvana elements are applied to a saint
(arahant).
What is, O monks, the nirvana element with a remainder of clinging?
Herein, O monks, a monk is a saint (arahant) whose impurities
are destroyed, who has reached perfection, who has done what
should be done, who has laid down the burden, who has reached the
highest goal, whose bonds leading to becoming are exhausted, and
who is liberated through perfect knowledge. In him, the five faculties
still remain, through which, as they have not been destroyed, he
undergoes the pleasant and the unpleasant; he experiences happiness
and suffering . . .
What is, O monks, the nirvana element without a remainder of
clinging? Herein, O monks, a monk is a saint (arahant) . . . For him,
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